MikeB

I asked this a long time ago, because I saw the same behavior on my PC. VW would peg the processor every time it was active. Here was the answer "As for your question, you have no worries. Your processor is constantly being cycled and used by Windows and active programs. I.e., let's say that "A" program uses 30% of your processor, 70% is being cycled by Windows. VectorWorks comes from a Mac environment where the program cycles rather than the O/S, therefore when VectorWorks is in the background Windows is cycling, when it is active VectorWorks will utilize all unused processor usage. When another program becomes active, VectorWorks turns the processor handling back to Windows to manage. Again, this is just a remnant of the Mac history of VectorWorks. There is nothing that VectorWorks can do that will damage your processor. Even when your computer is idle the processor is being used." Here is the link to the response. http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000563

quote: Originally posted by Kevin: Where in the program may I find "Smoothing Angle Function"? I think Andrew Bell at NNA wrote a script for VW 9.5.2. It was floating around for awhile, mabye someone has it and can post it again. Or look at www.vectordepot.com it may be there

I didn't think Open GL supported cast shadows. But I could be wrong

quote: Originally posted by Ariel: Why do I have to get Renderworks to get shadows in Vectorworks? Because to generate shadows you need a ray trace renderer quote: Originally posted by Ariel: Shouldn't this feature be available in the basic package? ariel It would increase the cost of the basic package. VW licenses the ray trace renderer from Lightwork. This increase in cost is passed on to the customer by selling Renderworks as an add on package. Not everyone wants or needs to be able to render images, so NNA has chosen to give us a choice. Makes perfect sense to me. [ 11-21-2002, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: MikeB ]

Sounds like a good set up. I'm using a 800 Mhz P3 with 256 Mb of ram and a 32 Mb Vidio card on Win 98se. I don't have any real problems with VWA/RW 10

Is this what your after? I think I followed your directions.

quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: Except give the smaller one a Z different from the bigger one. Like this? I did this by creating spheres, slicing them to get the hemispheres, adding solids, then filliting. quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: Two followups on your drawing (and thanks for the efforts): 1. Can you create an inside shell for it? That command didn't work for me, and it was one of my fondest desires for v10; I don't know, I'm at work using 9.5.3. I'll try it at home tonight in 10 quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: 2. How did you get the red lines in that pattern? Its the Grid Color Shader Here's the dialogue [ 11-15-2002, 01:25 PM: Message edited by: MikeB ]

What version of VW are you running?

Follow up. Upon further investigation it appears that all other apps print fine. This appears to be a VW specific problem.

quote: Originally posted by Katie: The solution was to reinstall the PPD and/or re-setup the printer again. I already tried that, no go. Thanks for the response though.

Well, upon yet further investigation, it seems NAA has nothing to do with this problem. I've found that if I set the Oce 9200 as the default printer, it will crash the print dialogue in all application, causing the app to crash too.

OK, It seems our Oce 9300 is the culprit. I removed the printer from the print center and the print dialogue now opens again. I reinstalled it using a new driver downloaded from the Oce site ( www.oce.com ) and if it is selected as the default printer the VW will crash before the print dialogue will open. If it is not the default printer and I select the Oce 9300 in the print dialogue in VW, VW will crash. I updated from OS 10.2.1 I'm not sure where to turn here. [ 11-14-2002, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: MikeB ]

I'm unable to print out of VW 9.5.3 (final and beta) under OS 10.2.2. I started another thread on this subject http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=002262 It's not crippling yet, because I can plot on other machines in the office that havent upgraded to 10.2.2 yet, but its really annoying. Basically VW Unexpectedly quits after I hit the print command. but before the print dialogue window appears on screen. It crashed with all printers selected, and is happening on at least 2 different machines. Anyone else seeing this? Mac G4 733 OS 10.2.2 256 Mb ram VW 9.5.3

I was using RW10 last night and I noticed that the gradient background and the clouds background show up in reflections and thru glass, but the image backgrounds do not. I think this is unfortunate, is this a bug or is there some technical reason for this? Is there any plan to make the Image background operate like the gradient and clouds?

I upgraded to OS 10.2.2 yesterday, I am using a G4 733, with 256 Mb ram and VW 9.5.3 Since upgrading, when I use the print command VW unexpectedy quits. The crash happens befor the print dialogue opens. This happens every time with every printer and with every file. Its is happening on at least 2 machines in the office, I will have to check the rest today. Is anyone else having problems?

If you are using the Final Renderworks mode, the only things that can help are more ram and a faster processor. RW raytrace renderer does not use the vidio card for rendering. Now if you use Open GL, than upgrading your vidio card can speed up things some. Good Luck

Katie, This may be a wish list item, but like others I customize my workspace, and it is radically different from the stock VW workspace. Alot of times there is stuff I've done that has become so ingrained in how I work that I don't even remember customizing it. Consequently, everytime I upgrade it takes a couple weeks to get my workspace back together, I agree that using a previous workspace is more work that its worth, but it would be nice if NNA could develop a tool to convert workspaces between Versions of VW. I admit this is probably a low priority, but it would be nice. Thanks

quote: Originally posted by Jim Smith: Does anyone know if workgroup reference has been improved in VW 10? Our experence is... "don't ever use the move page tool or you'll wreck the workgroup!" The workgroup referencing problem was fixed in 9.0 Now you can freely move the page with no problems. I haven't noticed anything different with WGR in 10, but I haven't been using if for production yet. [ 10-31-2002, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: MikeB ]

Perimeter mapping is only allowed on certain types of objects. I think you can use it on simple extrudes and primitive, but if you use nurbs, solid addition, solid subtractions, etc. the perimete mapping is not allowed. I don't know why. It would be nice if it were a little more flexible

Did you trash your preferences file?

You could duplicate the file, then rename it as some kind of reference only file. Then delete all the layers in the duplicate and reference all the layers from the origional document back into the duplicate. This way all your saved sheets would still be set up, you could look at other sheets in the duplicate, and as you make revisions in the origional you can update the references in the duplicate show the ongoing changes. I hope this makes sense. Good Luck [ 10-29-2002, 09:46 AM: Message edited by: MikeB ]

AndyM The sphere is just a primitive sphere, no nurbs there. As long as its a primitive it will render fine, its the nurbs that cause the speckles.

AndyM, Thats really cool:D , the geomety looks nice and smooth. My only criticism is the same as I have for myself. I'm finding it difficult to get natural looking matte textures, they either all look too plastic, or they get too shiny, I've been trying to find that inbetween spot of a matt finish that picks up a blurred reflection but I still haven't found it. What's the plastic texture you used on the machine? Also Translucent materials are really difficult to texture. The cord looks really convincing, good job

VW files are cross format compatable. If you move from mac to pc just add the .mcd file extension so windows will know what the files is. If you go from mac to pc, you may need to use the open command from the VW file menu to open the files, but once you save it you should be able to double click it to open. Good Luck

Well, this one was rendered in custom renderworks mode with the recursion level set to 9, mapped shadows, transparency off, and everything else on. There is a bug in the custom renderworks that if you turn "use transparency" on, you will get ray traced shadows no matter what. If you use the glass shader, its transparency setting seem to be independent of the transparency check box in the custom renderworks dialogue, so thats what I did here. The tile is the cloud shader, with a little mirror reflectivity, and some bump. I can give you specifics if your interested. I had to map each tile differently to get a random pattern from tile to tile, i wish there was a short cut for that. I have found I get better rendering results from the custom renderworks mode rather than the final renderworks mode. Its just that I cant use the transparency shader. I hope they fix this bug soon, its a real pain. I saw your private message, I'm not seeing the problems you are, in fact I haven't seen any connection between the custom renderworks setting and the final renderworks mode, so I'm not sure what thats about. The only problem I've seen is the speckeling, and the transparency problem in custom renderworks mode. So, Idonno. Thanks for the comments thought, I'm working up to doing some type of interior shot, just for kicks. I've done tons of exteriors, but interior has a whole new set of issues, and the level of detail is much higher, and the lighting is a real struggle.